'Wow, the first in-flight social network' I thought to myself. This sounds cool and I need to investigate, which I did.

What I found was this new social media network, which began rolling out on all domestic Virgin America flights toward the end of February, and will allow passengers to connect via their LinkedIn connections with passengers on their specific flight, guests on other Virgin America flights in the air, or fellow travelers at their destination.

In a shining example of a brand actually listening to its customers, Luanne Calvert, Virgin America's Chief Marketing Officer, said the genesis of this idea came from passengers themselves.

"When we surveyed our business travelers, we were surprised to learn that the ability to connect with other Virgin America travelers in-flight or en route to a destination was a frequent request," said Calvert. " The best business connections often happen unexpectedly, and we've heard many stories of partnerships and start-up ideas being born on our flights."

Back to the Future

Way back in 2012 I wrote a piece KLM: A Company That 'Gets' Social Media, which shed some light on a new KLM program called “Meet & Seat" which allows passengers to link their social media profiles (Facebook and LinkedIn) to their check-in information and choose a seating partner according to their profile.

I recently reached back out to Martijn to see what new programs KLM has cooking when it comes to social media. Not surprisingly after speaking with him again, I am even more firmly convinced that KLM absolutely "gets it" when it comes to social media.

Three of the latest programs he told me about were:

Payment via Facebook and Twitter. Their most recent announcement, this service or feature allows passengers to book or rebook a flight, make a seat reservation, or to arrange extra baggage all through either Facebook or Twitter via one of the 130 KLM social media agents.

@KLM_LocalEyes. This is a new twitter account to inspire travellers with insider tips from local KLM employees. Says van der Zee "Through @KLM_LocalEyes, they can now access first-hand and up to date knowledge of local KLM employees around the world."

KLM Wannagives. Launched in December, 2013, this allows someone to send a gift to a passenger, hand-delivered by the crew, while they are in-flight. Gifts range from a glass of champagne, an extra comfortable seat, a bottle of perfume or bonbons and more.

There are two "things" I want to share with everyone from my conversation with Martijn van der Zee for the simple reason every brand, company, C-level, VP and on and on can learn from it.

The first is an anecdote he told me re: when KLM first dove into the social media waters.

"It was 2010," he started off. "We had only a simple Twitter and Facebook account. There was this moment where one of my employees entered my room and said: 'we can either pretend the questions aren’t there or we can start answering them. But be aware: if we start answering, we can never go back.' And so we did and we never stopped."

Lesson #1: Once you enter the world of social media you cannot exit. Short of your company going out of business, you must stay active and respond and engage and not just when things are going well, either. You cannot just answer the easy questions and ignore the hard ones. There is no pile of sand big enough on this planet or any other for you to bury your head in.

The second "thing" I want to share from my chat with van der Zee is this line "We believe we are a guest at somebody else’s party."

The line came from part of a larger discussion in which he also said "Social is not a marketing tool as others. Social talks back. We believe we are a guest at somebody else’s party. Adjust yourself, don’t start spamming others with your own messages. The nice thing about social media is that it is very honest. You know when you do well and you sure know when you don’t (do well.) The customer is our judge everyday and that’s what makes it exciting and challenging at the same time."

Lesson #2: You, Mr. and Mrs. Brand, are not in control. You are, as van der Zee so eloquently puts it, a guest at somebody else's party. The consumer is throwing this party. Yes you may be invited but you are surely not exempt from being shown the door at any moment.

Join The Conversation

Your blogs are spot on regarding social media and the travel industry. Social travel sites such as AFAR and TripAdvisor were key to my last vacation. As marketers [and fellow travelers] we need to remind ourselves and each other that guidebooks, while a decent starting point, all too often represent only those who pay to be listed and the point of travel is to experience for oneself.

The smallest B&B can generate a lot of good PR from word-of-mouth advertising. For example, I found a small B&B in Bruges, Belgium thanks to travelers and locals who responded to my post on AFAR.com. I was so impressed that I wrote a review on Trip Advisor and AFAR. A few days later, the innkeeper e-mailed me and thanked me for the review citing several bookings who indicated my review solidifed their decision.